Improvement in dikes and levees to eivees



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N. PETERS, PHOTO-L THOGRAPHER WASHINGTON D c glatten ftatrs gettati @ffice SPENCER l. DRIGGS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

Letters Patent No. 69,416. dated October l, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN DIKES AND LEVEES T0 RIVERS.

TO ALL WIIOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known thatI, SPENCER B.'Dniues, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Dikes and Levees to Rivers and other waters, applicable, also, to reclaiming marsh and swamp lands, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this speciiieation, and in which- Figures I and 2 represent transverse sections of a river course, with its bank er shore, and wall or dike thereto constructed according to my improvement, and

Figures 3 and l plans ofthe same.

V Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

My invention has reference to the construction of levees on banks of rivers, bays, creeks, canal banks, dams, and other places or structures, in which earthen embankments are or may be used to prevent'overow or flooding of' adjacent lands. The nature of my invention in this connection consists, in combination with an earthen embankment, of an iron wall, of novel construction, (as compared with that described in my patent of June 27, 1865,) made up of' separate sections o f cast iron, but of a continuous character, substantially ashoreinafter described.

Referring to the accompanying drawing,lin which A may be supposed to represent any tidal or other river, and B its bank, that is designed to restrict it to a certain rim or course, and protect in a measure the adjacent and'lowcr lands from being flooded; the wall here referred to may be made of a series of metallic sections, C, of any suitable length. These sections I propose to press -into or place in the earth, in a single or separate manner, one after the other, at a suitable distance from the river margin, with their end edges rabbeted or otherwise overlaoping each other, in direction ot' the current, and in close contiguity, butdispensing with all objectionable packing at such junctions, and ot' such depth will form an iron wall extending sullicientlybelow the natural surface of the ground, and project above the ground to above highdlood level or thereabouts, where the adjacent land is to be protected from the effects of tidal changes, levees on rivers, canal banks, dams, and other structures requiring .different sizes and arrangements ot' said sections.

In applying the invention to the reclamation of lands, the sections may be inserted into the ground to the depth of the lowest low-water mark, as shown in iig. l; but in applying it te the construction of' levees, the sections need only be inserted deep enough into the ground to insure stability, as shown in fig. 2. These sections are inserted in the ground at an inclination away from the river, in an upward direction. They maybe shaped yor arranged so as to form a series of curves, eorrugations, or zigzag structure, each plate overlapping the next in the direction of the current, substantially as represented in the drawing, whereby they brace or support each other, and compensate for expansion and contraction, and, in case of the earth-on the river side of them being washed away, will better stand or remain in position to act as a wall. In some cases it will be sufficient merely te arrange the sections at an inclination, as described; in others, advisable te give them the zigzag arrangementor curved or corrugated form mentioned, and in others to embrace both features. Any mode of inserting said sections in the ground may be adopted. After insertion, they may bev secured together, if desired, by clamps on their upper edges, and the better to brace and hold them in place beams, as at D, may be run into the ground, or footed on a sill parallel with the plates, in a diagonal direction, and made to bite or clip, at their outer ends, the upper edges of the sections, after which the whole upper exposed surface of the structuremay be covered up or banked over by earth, as represented by dotted lines in the drawing. The sections C may be galvanized, painted, or otherwise coated, to protect them from rust.

A dike thus constructed, it will be seen, differs materially from the construction described in Letters Patent of the United States issued to me on the 27th day of June, 1865, not merely in dispensing with water-tight joints to the plates or sections, but in other respects. The utility of' such a dike will be seen from the fact that it is not merely to protect against excessive water pressure or leakage through issures or other like openings that the earthen embankment has coinbinefhwith it an iron core, but to resist the insidious and destructive ravages to or of the embankment by cray-'sh, rats, crabs, worms, and other borers, some or all of which infest different localities, and whose work, though small or slow in itself, is constant, and too.frequently ends in the o 69,416 nl establishment of crevasses, and destruction of crops, property, :ind occasionally lives-calamitics of no unusual occurrence along the 'banks of the Mississippi river.

What I here claim as my invention, and desire to sccure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The metallic wall or coro, when arranged in lo. curved. corrugated, or zigzag form, substantially :ts and for the purpose set forth.

2. The metallic wall or core, constructed with lapjoints at the junction ot' the plates to compensato for expansion and contraction, und arranged at an anglo to the horizon, in combination with the braces D, sub stantially as specified.

SPENCER B. DRIGGS. Witnesses:

HENRY T. BROWN,

A. Ln CLERC. 

